The Jesuits In Ceylon (In The Xvi And Xvii Centuries)

About the Book:-This book on the missionary activities in Ceylon covers the 16th and the 17th centuries. The following is a short sketch of the old Jesuit Missions in Ceylon in the time of the Portuguese, written to commemorate the Fourth Centenary of the Establishment of the Society of Jesus. It is compiled mainly from manuscript sources, from original documents existing in the archives of the Society of Jesus and in the libraries of Rome, Lisbon and Colombo. The book commences with a chapter on Ceylon and St. Xavier, and proceeds to describe the events and people noteworthy during the covered period. Among the chapters the reader will find mentions of: Fr Manoel de Moraes and Br Antonio Dyas; the mission of Mannar; the College in Colombo; destruction of a monastery and martyrdom; the mission in Jaffna, end if missions, etc. The Society of Jesus was canonically instituted by the Bull Regiminis Militantis Eccelesiae issued by Paul III on 27th September, 1540; and within six months one of the original members of the new Society became deeply interested in the island of Ceylon. He was beatified in 1619, canonized in 1622, and was proclaimed the Apostle of India and the pattern of a missionary, not merely because of the phenomenal success of his apostolate, but especially because of the wise, systematic and persevering, method of missionary work he introduced and stamped on the Indian missions. By 1541 the Indian missions begun by the Portuguese missionaries appeared to King John III of Portugal to need a papal legate, and he desired to send a member of the newly founded Society of Jesus. This book is a reprint of the 1941 edition.